Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-04-08


Imagination? let it discourse on the Psalms OF
s David or Johns apocalyptic vision. Have
you great powers of pathos? exhaust it in tell
ing the story of a Savior's love- Have you
bold style Of thinking? then follow Eezekiels
wheel, full of eyes, and hear through his
chapters the rush Of the wings of the sera-
phim. All We who want a grand field in
which to work for God, come into the gospel
ministry. At any rate, come into Christian
| circles, and somewhere and somehow declare
| the grace of God. Pardon for all sin. Com
fort for all trouble. Eternal life for all the
| dead. o, my SOUL preach it forever. 1t has
been my ambition, and I believe it has
been yours, my dear people, in these years
| of my ministry to have this soul saving
church, and we never yet threw out the Cos
pei net but we drew in a great multitude.
| They have come 100 at time, and 200 at
time, and $50 at time, and I expect the day
| will appear when, in some service, there will
be 5000 souls accepting the offers of eternal
| life. | wish | could tell you some circum-
| stances that have come under my observation,
proving the fact that God has blessed the
| prayers of these people in behalf of souls inn
mortal. could tell you of one night when
stood at the end of the platform and gentle
man passed me, his cheek bronzed with the
said to me: 81 am an Englishman.n l said:
81 am very glad to see you; walk in" That
night he gave his heart to the Lord.
1t was clear case of quick but
thorough conversion. Passing out at
the close of the inquiry meeting I
said: GLOW long have you been in this coun-
try?' He said II arrived by steamer this
morning at II o'clock" I said: GLOW long
will you be in the cityg" He said: II leave
tomorrow for Canada, and thence I go to
Halifax, and thence to Europe, and I'll never
be here again" I said: 81 think you must
have come to this country to have your soul
saved.n He said: THAT certainly was the.
reason" In that other room, one night, at
the close of the service, there sat among other
persons, three persons looking SO cheerful that
said to myself: "These are not anxious in
quirers." l said to the man: "Are you
Christian?" He said: II am" said: "When
did you become Christian?" He said: ITO
| night" His wife sat next to him. said to
her: care you Christians' She said: az
| am" said: "When did you become Chris
tian?" She said: "To-night" remarked: "Is
this young lady your daughterw They said:
eyes" l said TO her: "Are you q Christians"
She said: eyes" l said: sSshaa. did yes bN-
come Christian?" She said. Tonight, j
said to them: "From whence came youf
They said: eve are from Charleston, S. CO
I said: "When did you Gomez They said:
"We came yesterday" Chow long are you
going to remain?" ''We go tomorrow. We
have never been here before, and shall never
be here again" I have heard from them
since. They are members of the church of
Jesus Christ, in good and regular standing,
eminent for consistency and piety. And SO
God has made it a soul-saving church. But
I could tell you of tragic scene, when olce,
at the close of the service, / found InsEssgGz
one of these front seats, wrought -aspon issS
nightly. l said to MIN: "Wha5 is tne
matter?' He replied: II am a captive of
strong drink; 1 came from the west; I
thought, perhaps, you could do me some
good: find you can't do me any good;
1 find there is no hope for me-" I said:
"Come into this side room and we will talk
together" "Oh, non he said, "there's no
need of my going in; am a lost man; have
beautiful wife; 1 have four beautiful chill
dren: had fine profession; have had
thorough education; had every opportunity
a man ever had, but am a captive of strong
drink God only knows what I suffer-" I
said: aBe encouraged: come in here and we'll
talk together about it." "No,n he said II
can't come; you can't do me any good was
on the Hudson River railroad yesterday, and
coming down I resolved never again to touch
a drop of strong drink. While sat there
man came ina low creature-and sat by me.
He had whisky flask and he said to me:
evil YOU take drink?" / said: "No;" but
Oh, how wanted it! And as l said no it
seemed that the liquor curled up around the
mouth of the flask and begged: "Take me take
me! take mel" felt couldn't resist it, and yet
I was determined not to drink, and rushed
out on the platform of the car, and thought
I would jump off; we were going at the rate
Of forty miles an hour, and | didn't dare to
lump; the paroxyism of thirst went off, and
| am here tonight" l said: "Come in, I'll
pray for you, and commend you to God" He
came in trembling. Some of you remember.
After the service we walked out and up the
street. said: "You have an awfa. struggle;
pll take you into drug store, perhaps the
doctor can give you some medicine that will
help you in your struggle, though, after all,
you will have to depend upon the grace Of
God" said to the doctor: "Can you give
this man something to help him in his battle
against strong drink?" II can," replied the
doctor, and he prepared a bottle of medicine.
said: There is no alcohol in this-no strong
drink?" "None at ALL" said the doctor
How long will this last?" I inquired at
will last him a week" co." I said,
"give us another bottle" We passed out
into the street and stood under the
gaslight 1t was getting late, and I said to
to the man: II must part with you. Put
your trust in the Lord, and he will see you
through You will make use of this medicine
when the paroxysm of thirst comes on" A
few weeks passed away, and got letter
from Boston saying: "Dear friend, inclose
the money you paid for that medicine. I
have never used any of it. The thirst for
strong drink has entirely gone away from
ne. send you two or three newspapers 10
*how you what I have been doing SINCE
came to Boston" I opened IL newspapers
and saw accounts of meeting CT }t&l
5000 people to whom snjs g. fs
preaching Righteousness, temperance u
Judgment to come have heard from him
again and again since. He is faithful now,
and will be- know, faithful to the last O,
this work of soul savingl Would God that
out of this audience to-day 500 men might
hear the voice of the son of God bidding them
come to a glorious resurrection
All the offers of the Gospel are extended to
you, without money and without price,
and you are conscious of the fact that these
opportunities will soon be gone forever. The
conductor of rail train was telling me OF
the fact that he was one night standing by
his train on a side track his train having
been switched off so that the express train
might dart past unhindered. He said while
he stood there in the darkness beside his train
on the side track, he heard the thunder of the
express in the distance. Then he saw the
flash of the headlight. The train came with
fearful velocity, nearer and nearer, until
after awhile, when it came very near,
by the flash of the headlight, he
saw that the switchman had not at
tended to his duty-either through in
toxication or Indifference had not attended
to his duty-and that train, unless something
were done Immediately, would rush on the
side track and dash the other train to atoms.
He shouted to the switchman: "Set up that
SWITCH" and with one stroke the switch went
back, and the express Numbered on. O..
men and women, going on toward the eternal
world, swift as the years, swift as the months,
swift as the days, swift as the hours, swift as
the minutes, swift as the seconds-on what
track are you runnings Toward light or
darknesss Toward victory or defeats To-
ward heaven or hell? Set up that switch
Cry aloud to God: "Now is the day of saliva
ton.
Dog and Diamonds.
A well known Wall street broker is O